Screw those conversation guides, here's a whole bunch of stuff to read when you're hiding in the bathroom or stealing away to handle that "work emergency." Or, here's a bunch of stuff to read while you're stuck in the airport on your 2, 3, now 5 hour lay over. 

David Brooks' Sydney Awards offers you four engaging, long read personal essays. 

Katherine Miller of Buzzfeed tweeted her list of delightful reads not by Buzzfeed (she later tweeted a slew of what she considered their best political writing of the year, too). Here, in a slightly edited, and easier to click format: 

• How to accept compliments and handle praise
• George Saunders: My Writing Education
• Just Checking In (In which two friends try to horrify each other via email.)
• A Black Cat In A Dark Room (A tiny Kazakh village's residents fall asleep for days on end and no one knows why.)
• Dirty Talk and Dostoyevsky on the Night Shift
• Ina Garten Does It Herself
• I Will Drink Every Last Drop Of Water On Earth by an Almond
• Death To The Maxi Dress: A Manifesto

Some stuff you really liked, by little 'ol me: 

• GSD: When Burnout Is Inevitable
• GSD: Strategic Plans (Game of Thrones Edition)
• Weekend Reads: Documentaries, F-Bombs and Pasta Sauce
• Weekend Reads: Crying At Work, Haters and Country Music
• Weekend Reads: Lube, Strategy and Why Context Matters
• Weekend Reads: The History Of Glitter, Divorce and Rule 34

LongReads.com has their Best of 2015 list. 

Want to start a book? Check out The Billionaire's Vinegar and enter the weird, surprisingly dramatic world of extreme wine collecting and the upper echelons of moneyed society - with a dash of American history. It's not as pretentious as it sounds, I promise. 

My last idea for you: download The List App. It's an app for lists...of all kinds. Funny lists, sweet lists, heartwarming lists, serious lists. Make a list and tell us all what funny things your family is saying - and give me a follow! 

Have a wonderful holiday, or if you're not celebrating a holiday, have a wonderfully slow week at work and enjoy the downtime! 

Image Credit: My mom.